Strong electrical current flowing from a power supply to a load, such as a plasma device or plasma chamber used in plasma applications, e.g., surface treatment or the like, through leads or cables of significant length is related to a significant amount of electrical energy, which is stored in the lead inductance. In the present context, a lead is meant to signify any electrical connection, such as a wire or the like, which can be associated with a non-negligible inductance value. When using a power supply apparatus for supplying power to a plasma process, plasma arc discharges or plasma arcs may occur inside the plasma chamber and may cause unwanted results. Typically, upon detection of an arc discharge in the plasma, power being supplied to the plasma application is interrupted. However, it is essential not only to decouple the power supply from the plasma as soon as possible, but also to decrease the amount of energy which is subsequently delivered to the arc discharge from the lead inductance.
One way to ensure this is by using relatively short leads or cables of low inductance, since the inductance value of a lead is generally proportional to the lead length. This approach, however, requires placing the power supply apparatus in close proximity to the plasma chamber which is difficult to accomplish in practice.
Thus, a need exists to ensure significant reduction of lead inductance energy delivered to a load without placing constraints on the relative locations of a power supply unit and the load, to which power is to be supplied.